Published: 7:29PM BST 30 May 2010

The girl was visiting a zoo in Tambov in southern Russia on Saturday with her grandparents when she approached the lion’s enclosure, the Interfax news agency reported.

The animal dragged her in with its paw, a spokesman for the city’s police said.

“The visitors and zoo workers managed to shoo away the animal, which had time to seriously maul the little girl’s neck and arm,” the police spokesman said.

The girl underwent an operation and on Sunday was in a “very serious” condition in a city hospital, Interfax reported.

A section of the bars around the lion’s enclosure was missing, a Tambov district police officer, Sergei Ivashchenko, told Komsomolskaya Pravda daily.

Russian zoos, especially those in provincial towns, often keep animals in inhumane and cramped conditions.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/7786337/Lion-drags-girl-4-into-cage-in-Russian-zoo-attack.htmlPosted byG L Wilsonat08:43

According to witness accounts, a man who appeared to be a father lifted a 2- to 5-year-old boy over a railing toward the cougar exhibit. One of the animals “pushed through the mesh” fencing and scratched the boy before the man could pull the child away, said zoo spokesman Matt Reinartz.

By the time officials arrived at the scene, the man and the boy had left.

There are at least 10 signs in the area warning people to stay off barriers and to stay back a safe distance, Reinartz said. “When poor decisions are made,” Reinartz said, “it puts individuals and the animals at risk.”

The cougar involved returns to the exhibit Tuesday. She is one of two cougars at the zoo, both female adults.

Zoo staff members inspected the area to see whether any safety measures are lacking or whether they were “willfully breached,” Reinartz said. Como is also reviewing safety barriers, its signs and mesh fencing in the
area to see whether any changes are needed, he said.